What are the risk of not performed bariatric surgery in a hospital?

In my thorough search for the right bariatric surgeon in Mexico, I've come across many options and comments from people; MANY of them are just people who are promoting surgeons and although the information the've provided is biased (due to their ulterior motive), it has been helpful and I've been able to get a lot of information on surgeons and procedures.

I've considered many options but one thing that has me wondering is:

Can a bariatric surgery be performed in a clinic instead of a hospital?

What are the risks of going to Mexico and not visiting the doctor's facilities beforehand?

What are the differences for having a surgery in a hospital than a clinic?

I live in Phoenix and do not want to go to Mexico and have a surprise, being in this forum has helped me a lot, but I still have many questions.

Thanks in advance and all points of view are welcome.

For me, my choice was to avoid being sleeved in a hospital setting.  Most of the time, hospitals are full of sick people.  The last thing I needed was to worry about getting was getting sleeved and dealing with some other kind of sickness on top of it.  

I went with LongTerm VSG who performs surgeries at JL Prado Surgery Center in Tijuana.  It was a wonderful experience that worked well for me.  I was in Tijuana for 3 days and was able to go home and recuperate in my own home.  That was my own personal preference which LongTerm allowed me to do.  The surgery center is new and has a wonderful staff.  There is a physician with you at all times and you interact with the same people.  That is the good part about surgery centers.  Most of the time, they have a select number of people who work at them.  You see familiar faces the entire time you are there.  They are friendly and devote their time to making you comfortable.  

Because you aren't required to be in Mexico for a week or more, I paid $2999 all inclusive for my surgery and that also made a huge difference.  My surgeon, Dr. Maytorena, is very skilled and literally changed my life.  I was sleeved March 18th and am down 56lbs and only 18lbs to my goal weight.  

Ok, it seems you had a very good experience, but What should I expect when having surgery across the border? Also what about the recovery process,  Is it difficult to have the recovery on your own? How long did you have to wait to get back to work? 

Thank you for your response.

Sorry for the delay in responding...I missed your post somehow.  

My trip was easy peasey.  I arrived at the border, my coordinator picked me up, went and had labs done, arrived at the surgery center, had my surgery and went home 2 days later.  I returned to work within a week and have had no issues to date.  My recovery went really smooth and my results have been great.  HW 263 SW 244 CW 182 and I am almost 4 months post-op.

I was the total opposite from the pp. I paid more ($8500) but I wanted the security of knowing I was in a fully staffed and supplied hospital. My doctor uses a small community hospital  that only has about 35 beds, but has all the necessary equipment. I thought it was a great compromise  between the two. 

I will say that I was super nervous about surgery in Mexico. To help calm my fears, I was actually able to look at pictures of the hospital. It helped me to see everything beforehand. I also talked to MANY people who had been to my doctor. 

While there I had better care than I have ever had in a stateside hospital.  My doctor had two others working with him. Each of them checked on me twice  a day. So I had doctors checking on me 6 times a day while I was there. It was amazing to me. I was used to MAYBE seeing a doctor once a day if lucky at home. Also, I was worried about the language barrier. It was never a problem. Most of the nurses did not speak English, especially on night shift. However, there was always one there who could translate if needed. Plus they knew enough if I said pain (for example) they knew what I meant.

Recovery has not been bad at all. The doctor gave me his phone number when I was discharged. If I had any issues I could call or email. Thankfully, so far I have had no major issues. Also, I have received multiple emails from him over the last couple months. Each time I was to progress to a new eating stage I would get a notification. I work in retail.

I returned to work after a week. It was doable but I did get tired. Of course  there was no lifting for  30 days.

I hope this helped. Good luck with your decision.

I had surgery at a small hospital in Tijuana as well and I understand your fears completely.  They are probably not as technologically sophisticated as hospitals in the US, however, their doctors are trained well and I had a good experience.  After care has been performed by my PCP and endocrinologist, so no worries there.  I would not have been able to afford self-pay in the US, so my two options were to not have the surgery or have it in Mexico.  I don't regret my decision for a minute.

After reviewing posts for a year, I decided that the requirements for my gastric sleeve in Mexico included the following:

1. FACS and ASMBS  surgeon

2. Either a Bariatric Center of Excellence (ASMBS)Or a J****rtified Hospital. Hospital needed to be full service including 24/7 ER & ICU, CT and MRI, etc...

The low cost options did not appeal to me since I wanted to minimize risk.

The list of surgeons in TJ for me were:

Ariel Ortiz

Jaime Kelley 

Juan Lopez Corvala.

After a great deal of thought, I opted for Dr Corvala at Hosp Angeles.

I spent 4 nites at the hospital and two at a hotel.

Everything went smooth and I felt that the care I received was on par with comparable Bariatric Level One hospitals in the US.

They used sequential compression devices, gave me lots of IV, Most of my meds were given IV. I met with a nutritionist and dietitian who I follow up with as needed.

Everyone has their own priorities and preferences and may choose less expensive surgeons at surgical centers or small older hospitals. 

Good luck researching. There is a great deal of info to sift through!